Can Your (Smart) Electric Meter Make You Sick?

The heading of this thread is the title of an article (below) that was recently published in our local newspaper as a guest opinion. Rod Newton is a local chiropractor who a couple years ago spearheaded efforts to keep some cell towers from being erected a short ways away from his health practice. He was able to keep this from happening, and then just recently was instrumental in convincing the local city council to let people opt out of the smart meter plan the city envisioned foisting on local residents.​

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I thought his article provides an excellent synopsis and encapsulated a lot of what he has learned through extensive research in the past two years regarding various kinds of radiation and EMFs. I only recently discovered that a smart meter was installed on our house about a year ago, and am pretty dismayed that they would have the audacity to come onto a person's property without permission and do something like this that is so controversial.​

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Anyway, thought I'd pass this along. I suspect most pwCFS are much more susceptible to EMFs and various kinds of ubiquitous radiation than most people. And it might be a good idea to keep abreast of any similar local action in your area that might have a deleterious impact on your health.​

The city of Ashland has been replacing analog electricity meters on homes and businesses with "smart" meters, hoping to save money spent on meter reading. These smart meters radiate 86,400 spiked microwave signals per month, just so one of these signals can be read. The intensity of the spikes is substantial, the same intensity measured on the roof of the Ashland Springs Hotel where there are seven cell tower antennas.​

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Citizen groups around the world are concerned about health effects of 24-hour radiation from smart meters, invasion of privacy, accuracy of readings and whether they really save money. The California PUC has received thousands of complaints of health problems after smart meters were installed. 11 counties and 44 California cities oppose mandatory smart meter installation, 9 passed ordinances making smart meter installation illegal. The Maryland PUC denied permission for the deployment of smart meters due to privacy concerns. The Vermont state legislature voted a no-fee opt out. The city council of Mount Shasta created an "opt in" policy. The list keeps growing every month.​

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Established research on radio frequency radiation provides significant cause for concern about health risks. Dr. David Carpenter, a Harvard Medical School-trained physician who worked in the New York State Department of Public Health for 18 years and now directs the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany states:​

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"We have evidence "… that exposure to radio frequency radiation "… increases the risk of cancer, increases damage to the nervous system, causes electrosensitivity, has adverse reproductive effects and a variety of other effects on different organ systems. There is no justification for the statement that Smart Meters have no adverse health effects."​

The American Academy of Environmental Physicians, an organization that has been studying and treating the effects of environmental influences on human health for over 50 years, is calling for:​

An immediate moratorium on "smart meter" installation until these serious public health issues are resolved. Continuing with their installation would be extremely irresponsible.

Hearings on health impact "… along with cost evaluation and community wide opt-out.

Provide immediate relief to those requesting it and restore the analog meters.

Last year, the World Health Organization released a long-awaited study with the results of years of evaluation by 27 scientists in 14 countries. The scientists classified electromagnetic radiation as a Class 2B carcinogen. The W.H.O. concluded that "the use of precautionary approaches is warranted."​

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Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), is a condition the W.H.O. describes as "a phenomenon where individuals experience adverse health effect while using or being in the vicinity of devices emanating electric, magnetic, or electromagnetic fields (EMFs)... Whatever its cause, EHS is a real and sometimes debilitating problem for the affected persons (Mild et all, 2004)."​

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A collection of scientists and physicians recently conducted a double-blinded research study that concluded that: "EMF hypersensitivity can occur as a bona fide environmentally-inducible neurological syndrome (McCarty et all, 2011)."​

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Afflicted individuals often presented with symptoms such as headaches, weakness, sleep disturbance, emotional instability, dizziness, memory impairment, fatigue, and heart palpitations. A Public Health Division of Santa Cruz County report quotes studies estimating the prevalence of EHS at 1.5 percent and 8 percent of the population. That adds up to 300 to 1,600 people in Ashland with EHS. Dozens of citizens are probably already having their condition aggravated by smart meter installation. They may go to their doctors with headaches, rashes, stomach pains, etc, not knowing that they had a new meter installed. We've heard from families who didn't know why they were sick until they tracked it back to when a meter was installed.​

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But will there be cost savings? Smart meters cost three times as much and last half as long as analog meters. Potential savings would come many years down the road after repaying the $750,000 to convert the remaining 55 percent of Ashland to smart meters. Even then, the savings will be just a fraction of 1 percent of peoples' electric bills, since the entire budget for meter reading is less than 1% of the electric department's charges for services. Those savings will come at the expense of local employment.​

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Does it really make sense to expose our community 24/7 to radiation, just to save 1 percent on our electric bills years from now? We don't think so.​

Opt Out — Submit a request to the city to opt out of "smart" meter installation.

Talk to or email the City Council — let your voice be heard in-person at the June 5 City Council meeting and through emails.

Jim Fong is executive director of the Job Council in Jackson and Josephine counties, Will Wilkinson is a local writer, co-author of "Forgiving the Unforgivable," and Dr. Rod Newton is a chiropractor and co-owner of Hidden Springs Wellness Center. They are all Ashland residents.​